


A Nice Soft Place to Land

by Passions



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 03:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5401478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Passions/pseuds/Passions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Daenerys Targaryen announces her engagement to - and company merger with - Drogo Khalasar, Robert Baratheon doesn't take it well to say the least. Which leaves everyone associated with his company scrambling to set themselves up safely. This is a story of family, friendship, and arranged marriage. And about finding what you want in the most unlikely way possible. </p><p>This is primarily a SanSan story (with lots of other pairings thrown in) but it will take a minute to get there.</p><p>And the rating will be going up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Nice Soft Place to Land

Eddard Stark ruffled a hand through his hair as he padded quietly into the kitchen. Late October meant that at 7:30 in the morning the sun was starting to flood the sky with colour. Cat was standing in front of one of the windows, gazing out at the brightening sky as the soft reds and yellows cascaded over her simple blue dressing gown and made the copper in her hair glow. On the counter in front of her the French Press was sitting, steaming ever so gently, as she waited for the coffee to brew.

She laughed softly, contentment escaping on a breath, as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips to the back of her neck. He loved that laugh of hers, especially in the warm silence of mornings like this. Soon enough Odin would want to be let back into the house after his morning frolic, and Grizabella would hop up onto the counter, looking for a hand to pet her. But for the moment it was just the two of them and that laugh was a symbol of the simple joy they shared in their life together.

“Good morning, my love.” Cat sighed as she sank back against him. 

Ned smiled and rested his head against hers, their arms wrapped together around her midriff. 

They had a moment more of the calm glow before the timer for the coffee went off and Ned chuckled as he heard a scratching from the door leading outside. If nothing else, the dog had good timing. “I’d best go let him in.” He pressed a kiss to Cat’s temple and walked into the mudroom that separated the kitchen from the garden. Picking up a towel left on the bench there, Ned opened the outer door and caught the Irish Wolfhound before he could barge inside and track mud all over the pale kitchen floor.

The two year old wolfhound, who Ned had named Odin, kept his excitement in check while Ned did a quick brush over with the towel and then wiped each of his paws more carefully. As soon as Ned was finished though he burst off into the kitchen to demand some attention from Cat and Ned just shook his head as his wife showered the dog with affection while the coffee cooled behind her.

When the children were younger, a dog had died on the estate, leaving a litter of six puppies without a mother. Bran especially had been adamant that they keep puppies and his siblings, and their cousin Jon who had been visiting at the time, had quickly fallen in line with that opinion. Not an easy group to dissuade – Cat said they got the stubbornness from his side and she must have been right because Jon wasn’t any easier to budge than the others.

Eventually they had all grown up and moved out, taking their familiars with them. Even Bran, who was currently attending University in Stockholm, was able to keep Summer with him as a therapy animal. With only Rickon, and Shaggydog with him, left at the house, it was too quiet. Ned had bought Odin as much for himself as to give Shaggydog a new friend to play with. Because even Rickon would likely be leaving soon. He was finishing his A-levels this year and then who knew.

Ned jerked slightly at the soft touch on his arm and looked up to see Cat smiling at him. 

“Worrying over the empty nest?” she asked gently.

Ned sighed and smiled back at her. “You know me so well.”

Cat snuggled into his chest. “Well you’re not alone, you know. I miss our babies too.”

Ned wrapped one arm around her shoulders and let the other hand drift up and down her back. It was his turn to give that soft, contented laugh. “I know, my dear. I’m never alone while you’re with me.”

Soon enough Cat pulled away, poured their coffee into the waiting mugs, and his to him with a kiss as he headed into his office. It might be Saturday but that was no reason to get behind on any news from his businesses. Still, it was the weekend, so he didn’t feel bad about being in his pajamas as he sat down behind his desk and opened up his laptop.

Ned knew some men of his generation were less than thrilled with all the technological innovations of the last decades, but he loved it. Thanks to the reliability of email and the vast capabilities of the internet he could conduct a large portion of his business from the manor here in the countryside rather than spending a lot of time in London. So much quieter here, and so much nicer a place for the children to grow up.

The computer came on and he scrolled through his emails while his sipped on his coffee. Nothing pressing for the moment. 

Saturday morning wasn’t likely to be big on news, but he opened his browser and clicked through to a couple of his favourite news sites just in case and . . . well. He couldn’t remember ever being quite this wrong before.

He scanned through what was the top story on both sites and then made his way over to the sites of a couple of other papers and read the same story there as well. When he was finished he set his mug down on the desk and dropped his face into his hands. 

Ostensibly this didn’t affect him at all – nothing to do with his family or any of his companies. It should all add up to a not-his-problem situation. That arithmetic, however, failed to factor in Robert.

Robert Baratheon. One of Ned’s oldest and dearest friends, fellow business magnate, and father to his daughter’s boyfriend. And the man who was going to have an apoplectic fit when he heard about this.

There was a quiet tap on the office doorframe and Cat came in. “What’s wrong?”

Ned sighed and leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Apparently Twitter exploded early this morning. When Daenerys Targaryen announced that she was engaged. To Drogo Khalasar.”

Cat frowned. “Of Vaes Dothrak?”

Ned hummed and nodded in response.

“He must be a decade older than her, at least. How did they meet?”

Ned shrugged. “Business, most likely.”

Cat nodded and then frowned again, her eyes pinning him. “Robert isn’t going to be happy about this.”

Ned’s frown was grim. “Not in the least. He would have been upset about the wedding in any case but that isn’t the worst of it. According to the announcement the marriage is one part of a merger between Targaryen Consolidated and Vaes Dothrak. Robert will be more than unhappy.”

At that moment Ned’s cell went off and he looked at the call display. “Speak of the devil.” He answered the phone and brought it to his ear. “Robert, what can I do for you?”

As Robert started into a blistering rant, using language far too crude and too cruel for a girl who was just trying to do her best by her company and her family’s name, Cat came over and put a hand on Ned’s shoulder. Her touch usually settled him so easily and while it was still calming, Ned had the sense that things were not going to be settled for some time. And that this event, and whatever else it set in motion, was the hurdle his friendship with Robert might not survive.

***********************************************************************************************************************************

“Well, well, well.”

Sansa looked up from her cereal, brow furrowing as she looked across the table at her roommate. “What’s up?”

Margaery was scrolling through something on her laptop with one hand, a piece of buttered toast in the other. “Dany Targaryen is coming back to town. And she’s engaged.”

Sansa put her spoon down. “What? When did that happen? I never heard anything about her seeing someone.”

“She just tweeted about it this morning and going by the response that was the first anyone had heard of it.”

“Who’s she engaged to?”

“Drogo Khalasar.”

“Who?”

Margaery rolled her eyes. “Hot-as-Hell owner and CEO of the Vaes Dothrak oil company?” Her fingers clicked over her keyboard.

Sansa was nodding even before Margaery turned the computer screen around. Sansa laughed. “Yeah I remember. Pictures don’t hurt though.” Because Margaery was right about his good looks. Sansa figured that her ‘type’ could be pretty well described by her current boyfriend, Joffrey Baratheon. The typical Prince Charming set of tall, slim, aristocratically good looking . . . blonde. Despite some of his less desirable personality quirks, Joffrey was the very image of the handsome prince from a fairytale. Drogo, by comparison, was taller and heavier with muscle, with dark hair that hung to his shoulders. He looked fierce more than charming, more the beast than the prince, but his eyes and his smile seemed genuine and warm. He was about as different from Joffrey as it was possible to get, but Sansa had to admit that ‘hot-as-hell’ was an astute observation on Margaery’s part.

“So how did this happen anyway?” Sansa asked. “Daenerys only left London a month ago, and there was nothing about this floating around.”

Margaery went back to scrolling on the laptop, scanning whatever article she was reading for information on how the engagement had come about. “Huh.” Her eyebrows jumped up in surprise. “Business, apparently. As in Targaryen Consolidated and Vaes Dothrak are merging and the marriage is part of the agreement.”

Sansa pushed her cereal away and frowned deeply. “So it’s arranged?”

Margaery nodded. “Seems like it.” She looked up when Sansa didn’t answer and smiled. “I know it’s not very romantic hon, but it doesn’t seem like a bad proposition. The companies will both be of use to each other and I know you agree that being married to that man would be far from a hardship.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively and Sansa laughed.

“I know, it’s just – how could you not want love in your marriage? How could you not long for it?”

Margaery shrugged gently and sat back in her chair, pulling her knees up in front of her. “I don’t know, I think – I mean, you can’t guarantee that you’re going to love the same person forever, you know. I know you want to, and your parents are absolutely proof that it can happen, but that isn’t necessarily true of everyone. The wanting or the being able to. Why try and force it? This way they’re both getting something they need out of the relationship, for sure. And who knows? They might be a love match. It’s been known to happen before. Again, look at your parents.

“Maybe it would be worse if either of them were emotionally invested in someone else right now, but honestly based on what she’s said, Dany seems happy. I think it could be good.”

Sansa rolled her eyes and grinned. “Ever the pragmatist, you are.”

Margaery cocked a shoulder and smiled unrepentantly. “It suits me. Just like you manage to make ‘hopeless romantic’ look adorable.”

*************************************************************************************

Ned strove to hold in his groan of relief as Robert’s tirade started to taper off. “Yes. Yes. Yes, Robert, I’ll be there. Yes. Fine.” He growled as he finally pressed the end-call button and only narrowly restrained himself from throwing the phone.

“Let me guess.” Cat had been in and out of the room over the hour and half that Robert had ranted and raved over the phone, but she had caught the last few minutes of the call. “He wants you in London?”

“He wants a major meeting with all the shareholders and partners on Monday. It would be one thing if it were going to be worthwhile but I have a feeling it’s only going to be more of this.” He gestured angrily at the phone that was now sitting quietly and innocently on his desk.

Cat took his hand into hers. “You’re probably right. But you should still go. You might be the only person who can stop him from doing something utterly stupid.”

Ned sighed and nodded. “You’re right, of course. I only hope that I will be able to stop him from doing anything drastic. He’s terrible when he gets like this, especially where that family is concerned.”

She squeezed his hand. “Well we should get packing.”

He shook his head and pulled her down into his lap, nuzzling into her hair. “No. You stay here with Rickon for now. Hopefully this will be over soon. I’ll take the train down to London tomorrow afternoon.”

Cat rested her forehead against his. “Alright. But call me the minute something happens. I won’t leave you to deal with him alone. Now, what shall we do for today?”

He sighed heavily. “I should probably pack, do some research, come up with some sort of counter argument for whatever vitriol Robert will be spewing on Monday.”

She shook her head, forehead rubbing over his. “Oh no. Robert is going to be taking up too much of our time come tomorrow. For today, I say we ignore this hissy fit he’s having and just do something for us.”

Ned leaned back in his chair and gazed up at her, completely at a loss, even after all their years together, for how he had been lucky enough to deserve her. “Best of wives,” he whispered before kissing her softly. “You are the very best woman a man could be blessed with.”

She smiled. “Then you are certainly the best man a woman could call husband.” She tucked her face into his neck and he wrapped his arms more tightly around her.

Ned knew, because Cat had told him, that he was her rock when times were hard. That he tethered her and gave her something to cling to when she needed it. But equally true was that Cat, and this embrace, was the very font of the strength he presented to the world. With her by his side, even if it was metaphorical, he could withstand even Robert on a rampage.


End file.
